Great American Pitchfest - Information

The Great American PitchFest & Screenwriting Conference is a one-day screenwriting conference and one-day pitchfest which will take place in Los Angeles at the Burbank Marriott Hotel & Convention Center, May 31 – June 2, 2013. It was started by a group of writers to help other writers meet the people they need to know for their careers to move forward. More than 20 classes are presented each year by the best in the business, and dozens of other excellent panelists, speakers and established screenwriters. You can also pitch your screenplay to approximately 120 film/television executives and agents. More than 80 writers have had their projects optioned, been hired for writing assignments, or have signed with agents or managers. Visit www.pitchfest.com for more details. Our system is quite different from other pitchfest events you may have attended. First of all, there is no signup process. What we do instead is we take the biggest ballroom we can find, and have about 120 production companies, agents, managers, and other industry execs seated throughout. Each table is numbered. In the hallway, we setup 120 corresponding lines. What this means is that say you want to meet with Lionsgate and they are at table 30. You would then get into line 30. You would also turn to page 30 to read a full profile about that company, projects they have in development, budget information, contact information and names of the execs, stars they have relationships with, etc - really detailed information so you can really target who you want to meet with. We also post this information on our website so that you can do your research in advance and study the various companies. Every five minutes, we let the first person from each line into the main pitching room where you have your meeting. If the exec wants more time with you, we simply hold the line until they are ready to go again - so the meetings can be as long as they like. Most are five minutes and we do ring a bell every five minutes, but the lines are routinely held up when execs hear pitches they are especially interested in. When you're done, you simply get up, go around, and get in line to meet with the next company. It may sound like you're in line all day, but it moves really quickly. For every five participants, we invite another company - which means the lines never get very long. And the people in the lines are where you'll make a lot of your best connections because everyone is sharing what they've learned, who they've met with, who's looking for what, etc. If you don't know anyone in LA, you certainly will by the end of this day. And we don't charge per meeting - we only sell 500 tickets to the pitchfest, and they are available for $275 each. Most writers have between 12-20 meetings. If you want to know more about how this event was started or any other details about how it works, please click on http://www.pitchfest.com/about_us.shtml I hope that helps to answer any questions. If you have any others at all, please don't hesitate to ask. We're happy to help however we can. And please be sure to say hello when you're there - it'll be nice to meet a fellow writer! All the best, Signe Olynyk Writer/Producerwww.pitchfest.com